


tell me you're waiting for me I could be home by now

by ShyAudacity



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: American Sign Language, Angst, Bughead is minor, Car Accidents, Crying, Forgiveness, Fred Andrews is the bestest parent, Hard of Hearing Jughead, Hospitals, Hurt Jughead, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Medical Inaccuracies, Mentions of Panic Attacks, Other, Platonic Jarchie, Whump, Worried Archie, but could be read as romantic i guess, mentions of abuse, probably, you cant always trust google
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 04:16:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10325426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: “I would never hurt your sister, Jughead.”“That’s what you said about mom after-.” He doesn’t finish his sentence because the sound of screeching tires drowns him out. Jughead looks in the rear-view mirror just as the car behind them rear end’s them into oncoming traffic. He looks to his dad, about to ask if he’s okay, but instead, a truck speeding through the intersection crashes into the driver’s side of the car and Jughead’s whole world goes dark."ORJughead gets into a bad car accident and Archie has some feelings afterwards.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this whole thing in less than 12 hours so I'm kinda proud of myself. Title from Home By Now By Bombay Bicycle Club. Unbeta'd and I do not give my permission to have this fic or any of my other works to be posted elsewhere on wattpad, fanfiction.net, etc.

Jughead is at pops working on his novel, contemplating if he should write about Grundy and her possible previous escapades with Jason Blossom. Instead, the bell above the door rings and he looks up to find his father in the entry way, flask open in hand. For a moment, he considers turning off his hearing aids just so he won’t have to deal with the older man.

Just as well, he considers going back to the Andrews house, which is where he was supposed to be an hour ago; but he knows that leaving his dad alone in this state won’t go well for anyone involved.

FP sees him as he starts packing up his stuff. “Heeeyyy son, I was just lookin' for you.”   

“I’m sure that you were,” Jughead grumbles. “Give me your keys, I’m taking you home.”

“Aw c’mon, Jug, I ju-.”

“Dad, I’m not kidding, give me your keys.” He barks. FP hands over the keys, then lets his son take him by the elbow guide him out of the restaurant.

Once they’re in the car and headed to the trailer park FP won’t shut up, nothing but drunken nonsense spilling out of his mouth. Jughead seriously considers going as far as taking out his hearing aids just to show him that he doesn’t care, but he doesn’t because his old man says something that catches him off guard.

“I miss your mom… she called me the other day.” he mumbles

“She did?”

“Yeah, said she was thinkin’ bout coming back, but I guess that Jelly doesn’t wanna. She’s scared or somethin’.”

“You threw a glass vase at mom’s head while she was in the room. I think she has every reason to be afraid of you. You’re her dad, she needs to be able to trust you, not worry that she going to get a black eye if she says the wrong thing around you.” Jughead said, pulling up to an intersection.

“I would never hurt your sister, Jughead.”

“That’s what you said about mom after-.” He doesn’t finish his sentence because the sound of screeching tires drowns him out. Jughead looks in the rear-view mirror just as the car behind them rear end’s them into oncoming traffic. He looks to his dad, about to ask if he’s okay, but instead, a truck speeding through the intersection crashes into the driver’s side of the car and Jughead’s whole world goes dark.

*

Archie is supposed to be working on his history paper, but instead, he’s playing around with guitar, trying to figure out the cadence for a new song that he’s working on. Then, his dad knocks on the door, a grim look on his face.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“I just got a call from the hospital… Jughead and his dad were in an accident, kiddo.”

He doesn’t remember much else of what his dad said after that, he was too busy pulling on his shoes and scrambling to the car.

Archie felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest during the ride to the hospital; his hands shook and he worried that he might start having a panic attack. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened. The first time it happened, he was twelve and he failed a math test, one that he had needed to pass in order to get a passing grade for the semester. Jughead had followed him into the bathroom and talked him through it. Now, Archie is on the verge of panicking because his best friend is hurt he doesn’t know how bad it is. He would have laughed about it if it wasn’t so messed up.

They pull up to the emergency room in record time. When Fred and Archie walk in, they find FP Jones in the waiting room with his head in his hands. He looks up at them; the only noticeable injury that he has are stitches on his cheekbone. He sways standing up, holding out his hands defensively.

“What did you do?” Fred says through his teeth.

“I didn’t- I wasn’t the one-.”

“Bullshit! What did you do?” He yells, getting in his face. “You’re drunk, you think I don’t know that. I know that you did this, you could have gotten your son killed.”

“I wasn’t the one driving, alright?” FP bellows back. “Yeah, I’m a little drunk, you got me there. But it’s not what you think, Andrews. I showed up at Pop’s and Jug was there, he insisted on driving me home. We got rear-ended into the middle of an intersection and some asshat T-boned us. The airbag went off in my face and I blacked out, when I woke up I thought Jughead was dead.”

“FP-.”

“No, Fred, I thought _my son_ was dead. He wasn’t moving or talking… and that’s on me, I did this to him. So, don’t you dare guilt me for something that I already feel awful about.” FP pushed past both of the Andrews.

“Forsythe, I’m sorry.” Fred calls after him, but it was useless. FP keeps walking until he is not only out of the hospital but out of sight.

He turns back to Archie, who looked about as bad as he felt. “C’mon, let’s go see Jug.”

They find Jughead’s Doctor after checking with the nurse at the desk; he gives them the rundown as they walk towards his room.

“Mr. Jones is in the ICU at the moment,” He says. “He has three broken ribs, he has a bruised lung, probable whiplash from the accident and his left leg is fractured in multiple places. He also has some bruising around his larynx from where the airbag went off. It’s a wonder that this boy didn’t die after an accident like this. There is also some swelling in his brain, but it has been responding well to the medicine that we gave him. Once we have that under control he’ll be out of the woods.”

“He’s going to wake up though, right?” Archie asks.

“It’s very likely, but everything from here is up to your friend. You can go in and see him if you’d like to.”   

Archie wrings his hands together as he peers into the room and his stomach tightens at the sight of his friend, it feels bizarre for him to see Jughead without his beanie on. His dad claps a reassuring hand onto his shoulder.

“I’m going to go try to get a hold of Jug’s mom, she needs to know about this. Are you good to go in by yourself, or do you want me to come in with you for a little while?”

“N-No I’m good.” Archie lies. “Go call his mom, I’ll be fine.”

Fred nods, then walks off, leaving Archie alone in the hallway. He stands there for what feels like forever, battling with himself if he should go in or not. Yeah, Jughead has been staying with them for a few weeks, but the two of them aren’t exactly back to being best friends yet. Either way, he takes a deep breath then lets himself into Jughead’s hospital room.

It’s a small room, even if the bed wasn’t there, there’s only enough room for a couple of chairs and some space for guests to stand. Archie commandeers one of the chairs and pulls it towards his bedside. Jughead has a mask over his nose and mouth, other cuts mark up his face. Not knowing what else to do, Archie lays a hand on Jughead’s forearm and starts talking.  

“You know what this reminds me of?” He says quietly. “This reminds me that time when I was ten and my appendix had burst. I puked all over your mom’s clean carpet but she didn’t even get mad, she just called my parent’s and told them to meet us at the hospital. The only difference now is that you’re in the hospital bed and not me…Jug, I’m sorry that I’ve been a crap friend to you lately. I’m sorry that I didn’t know that things weren’t going well at home.”    

“I’m sorry that you blew you on off just so I could hang out with Grundy, I know how much that road trip meant to you. Jug, you need to come back to us, okay? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you didn’t forgive me. I’m so sorry that I blew you off on fourth of July. I’m sorry for everything, Juggie, please just come back to me, please.” His voice shook as he finished.

Not even five minutes later, the sound of footsteps slapping against tile echo from down the hall and a crying Betty appeared in the doorway.

“Oh my god,” she choked out. “Oh god, is he-.”

Archie stood at that, walking towards her and pulling her to his chest. She cries into his chest as he himself tried not to fall apart. He rubbed her back then pulled away, looking her in the eye.

“He’s gonna be fine, okay? The doctor said so himself, I promise.” He tells her, she nods, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

Betty pulls over the other chair next to where Archie’s is, then sits and rests her head on his shoulder. Archie tells himself that he should hold her hand, but then decides against it, not wanting to send the wrong message when she and Jughead seem to have something going on between the two of them.

After an hour, Betty’s phone has rung four times vibrates almost incessantly.

“You should answer that.” Archie tells her.

“It’s just my mom,” She says. “I left the house without telling her, she’s probably just wondering where I am. It’ll be fine.”

“No, no you should go home and get some sleep. You don’t want to keep your mom up worrying. I’ll call in the morning with an update, I promise. C’mon I’ll walk you out.”

She bites her lip, then nods in agreement. Betty stands and kisses Jughead on the forehead before she leaves. They hug again once as they get to the entrance, the same one he’d come in through not even two hours ago. Archie lets out a shuddering breath as he watches her leave, feeling like all of this is somehow his fault.

He runs into his dad as he passes the waiting room on the walk back.

“Hey,” Fred says, in a gentle tone. “How’re you holding up?”

Something inside of Archie seems to break. First, then his chin trembles, then, when he tries to answer his father all that comes out is a whine. He rubs his hand over his mouth in an attempt to keep himself from crying, but his father grabs his arms and Archie falls apart. He breaks down quietly, hiding his face in his dad’s shoulder.

“Hey, hey kiddo it’s okay.” Fred says, cradling the back of his son’s head. “Listen to me, alright. Jug is going to be just fine, okay? He’s going to get better, then he’s going to come home with us just like he’s supposed to. Got it?”

Archie nods, holding onto his father tighter than before. After a few minutes, he pulls away and wipes a hand over his face. “Did you get a hold of Mrs. Jones?”

“No, not yet, but I’m going to try her again. Are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. Thanks, Dad.” He leaves after that, making his way back to Jughead’s room.

When he gets there, someone is seated next to Jughead’s bed with their back to the open door. Archie recognizes it as Jughead’s dad. He wonders when FP came back, wonders how he didn’t see him earlier. FP is holding his son’s hand, speaking quietly to him. The same way that a father would tell a story to his child as they fall asleep. 

Archie knocks on the door, not wanting to intrude on the moment. FP turns and looks at him, his eyes wet.

“Oh, hey.” He says standing up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I can leave if-.”

“No, no that’s okay.” FP says, waving it off.

“I didn’t think that you were coming back.”

“Yeah…neither did I.” He walks towards the door where Archie is. “I gotta um… I gotta get going anyways. I have to work in the morning, but I’ll, uh, if he wakes up just tell him that I’ll come back tomorrow, alright?”

“Yeah,” Archie says with a nod. “Sure thing.”

As he walks away, FP turns back to speak to him. “Hey, thanks by the way- for being there I when I wasn’t, I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll always be there for him.”

FP lets out a small laugh, then leaves Archie alone in the doorway.

Archie goes back to Jughead’s bedside, just as he was before. He settles himself back into his seat and watches Jughead’s chest rise and fall with every breath, it brings him a small sense of relief. After a while, he finds himself struggling to keep his eyes open. Archie rests his cheek on his fist, using his other hand to keep a grip on Jughead’s shoulder. Before he can stop himself, he falls asleep.

*

The next morning, Archie wakes up to an empty room with a crick in his neck. He panics, mortified that something bad had happened in the middle of the night. He all but runs out of the door and nearly crashes into his father on the way out.

“Hey, slow down Arch, what going on?” Fred asks, holding him still.

“Where’s Jug? Where did they take him? Is he okay? Did he-.”

“Arch, Archie, he’s fine. Jughead is fine. The swelling in his brain went down so they moved him out of ICU. His doctor said that he should wake up sometime within the next day or so. He’s going to need a lot of rest and some physical therapy for his leg, but Jug is going to make a full recovery.”

Archie lets out a deep breath, finding solace in his father’s words. “That’s… crap, that’s great. What room is he in?”

Fred lets him know that Jughead’s new room is on the second floor, and Archie has to keep himself from running there. His new hospital room looks just like the one from the ICU, only slightly bigger. Instead of a mask over his mouth, there’s a cannula leading up to his nose.

Not knowing what else to do, and feeling far less worried than he did the night before, Archie sits down and turns on the TV in the corner of the room. He puts his feet up on the edge of the bed, feeling content to wait for his best friend to wake up.

*

When Jughead comes to later that afternoon, he’s disoriented and doesn’t know where he is. He opens his eyes for only a second before he realizes that he has a headache and _oh my god why does everything hurt?_ He makes a whining sound in the back of his throat and suddenly there’s a hand on top of his.

“Jug? Jug, can you hear me?” A familiar voice says, it sounds far away, like he doesn’t have his hearing aids in for some reason. Then a patch of red hair swims into his vision and his new-found fear subsides just a little bit.

Archie catches his attention and tries to sign along to the words as he speaks them. “Hey, Jug you’re okay, you and your dad were in an accident, remember? He’s fine, and you’re going to be fine. You have some bruising around your throat so you can’t talk right now. Okay?”

Jughead nods slowly, laughing internally at Archie’s messy sign language. He signs back, trying to say something that he’d been meaning to tell him for a few days now. Archie just looks at him with a confused face.

“I-I don’t get it, I don’t know that sign.”

Jughead tries again, spelling it out on his hand. _F-o-r-g-i-v-e y-o-u._

Archie smiles at him, choking out a watery laugh. He signs back _thank you_ , then presses his face into the side of Jughead’s shoulder as he lets a few tears escape. Jughead brings up the hand closest to the red head and rubs a comforting hand over the back of Archie’s neck. The hug ends a minute later, and Archie leaves to find a nurse, trying to see if they can figure out whatever happened to Jughead’s hearing aids.

Watching him leave, Jughead smiles to himself. Things with him and Archie might not have gone how he planned, and unexpected stuff might have occurred along the way. But it looked to Jughead like things would still work out for the best in the end, even if it just took a little time.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope that you liked this story! If you did, you can let me know in the comments or leave a kudos. If you want to, you can drop a prompt/request at my Riverdale blog destructivejughead and I'll see what I can do. Thanks again for reading, I hope that you have a great day!


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